IMS Health Expands Support for Mobile Medical Apps

Pharmaceutical and life sciences database/analytics vendor IMS Health is offering a way for providers and insurers to assess the functionality and value of a mobile medical app before prescribing or paying for it.

The new service follows IMS publication in October of a general assessment of nearly 43,700 health care mobile apps available to consumers. Researchers excluded more than 20,000 as not truly related to health care or of value, leaving 7,407 apps targeting health professionals and 16,275 for consumers. Five consumer apps generate 15 percent of all downloads of medical mobile apps, half of the remaining apps are barely used and 90 percent of the apps score less than 40 on a functionality scale of 100.